Page 12 of Unravel Me

I stare at him, gaping in shock. I understand the words, but the true meaning behind them eludes me.

Dad wants to add something else, but suddenly his brow furrows.

He turns toward the window, where the sound of a car parking can be heard.

Getting to his feet quickly, he walks to the window. He looks outside and mutters a curse in Sicilian under his breath, then fixes me with his eyes.

"Stay in your room, Mauro. Not a word!" he hisses, then quickly leaves, slamming the door behind him. Of course, I rush to the window and recognize Uncle Anzo's limousine pulling into the driveway.

He gets out of the limousine, but he has no escort with him. Interesting. That calms me down a little. He’s just a beta, alone, and he doesn't look threatening, so I don't understand why Dad reacted so nervously.

The two alpha soldati stand there calmly because Uncle Anzo is my father's younger brother, so why would they be on alert around him?

But exactly when Anzo is six feet away from them, he suddenly raises both hands. Pistols appear in them, and… he shoots them in the head.

Bang, bang!

It feels as if an electric shock crashes through my body. The sight is so absurd that I freeze, unable to make a single sound. I don't even blink.

Anzo walks into the house, and my heart beats so fast that I can hear it in my ears, a dull pounding echoing through my head.

But I can't stay here. The energy inside me erupts.

I run out of my room and race down the stairs, but Anzo has already passed through the lobby and entered the living room. I stop dead at the bottom of the stairs and listen.

"Anzo," I hear my father's tense voice. "What are you doing? What is this about?"

"Oh, dear brother," Anzo says. "I think you know this moment has finally come. The time for me to settle my accounts. I am ready."

"What are you talking about? I apologized to you. I begged you for forgiveness, and I thought you—."

I hear Anzo's cold laugh.

"Oh, did you really fall for that? I listened to you, yes, I nodded, yes… but I never forgave you. That's not some automatic guarantee, you know? I still remember, and I still carry the marks of what you both did to me. I always will. Every day when I look at my body, I remember, Paolo. I remember yours and Tito's cruelty. I remember the day you came for me and destroyed me. That damned day."

There is a moment of silence. I can't help but wonder what my father and Uncle Tito did to Anzo for him to still remember it after all these years.

Then I hear my dad's trembling voice.

"Anzo, please. I'm begging you, have mercy."

"Did they have mercy on me?"

My dad sobs, "What… what they did to you was horrible. It was inhuman! But please, for the sake of my children. They are innocent. They never did anything to you. Don't take their parents away from them…"

Anzo's voice remains cold, but I hear something almost solemn in it.

"Oh, Aldo. I have no intention of hurting the children… not directly. But unfortunately, you two are True Mates, so this is a package deal. I cannot kill only Paolo."

There is a moment of silence. I hear Dad crying so hysterically, and something terrible begins to rise in my chest, the realization that my life is about to change forever.

"After I killed Tito in front of our father earlier today, he made me promise… no, swear, that I wouldn't shoot Paolo. He said, 'You killed one brother in revenge. Be satisfied with that. Spare the other one—'"

Uncle Anzo's laughter sounds like the laughter of a madman.

"So I told him, 'All right, Patruzzu[2]. I won't shoot Paolo. I promise.' And then I shot our dear father straight in the head. The bastard deserved it. He chose your side."

My whole body is shaking.